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Dr. Cokethea Hill is a true force for advocacy in education, helping local charter schools find a match with the best advocates, training them, and drafting them NFL style into school board positions. Tune in to hear all about it and what’s next for BLAQUE KC. Plus, what can The Princess Bride teach us about doing a SWOT analysis?
Transcript:
Jeff Randolph:
Welcome to the Small Business Miracles podcast. I’m Jeff Randolph. This small business podcast is brought to you by EAG Advertising and Marketing. We are going to talk about marketing. We’re also here to celebrate entrepreneurs. We have marketing news and advice that business owners can use to keep moving forward.
This week we sit down with Dr. Cokethea Hill. She is the founder and CEO of BLAQUE KANSAS CITY. You want to tune in for her. But first we’ve got another small business marketing tip that we could talk about. So, let’s do that. For today’s tip, I’d like to start with the Princess Bride, you know that movie. They’re breaking into the castle and Westley says, “What I wouldn’t give for a Holocaust cloak.”
The Princess Bride (1987) – Dread Pirate Roberts:
“What I wouldn’t give for a Holocaust cloak.”
Jeff Randolph:
So, Andre the Giant… Okay, Fezzik, if you want to go that way. It’s tough not to see him as Andre the Giant. Fezzik whips one out of his pack and Westley says, “Well, why didn’t you list that among our assets?”
The Princess Bride (1987) – Dread Pirate Roberts:
“Why didn’t you list that among our assets in the first place?”
Jeff Randolph:
When you’re planning for your marketing, it’s important to list out all of your assets in the process. That’s where we can get really creative. And a SWOT analysis is a good way to put all of that information on the board so we can stare at it. So, a SWOT analysis, strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. A lot of us have had that in our background, in our educational background, as we were learning about marketing.
SWOT analysis. Put all of those things there. List out all of the strengths. List out all of the weaknesses, all of the opportunities, all of the threats. That way you can take a step back and stare at that. Really think through all of your assets. Do you have a relationship with a celebrity? Do you have a relative who owns a printing company? Does your staff all have a TikTok channel with a bigger following than your company page has? Can you write? Are you good on camera?
Any of those things that may come into play, list that out. Whatever those things are, list them among your assets. Then as you plan, you’re drawing creative lines between and among those strengths and opportunities in your SWOT matrix. If you don’t have all of those things listed, your matrix and those connections can only be as good as the assets that you put in there. Give it a try. List all of those things out. Then you can draw some creative connections and make sure that you’re really seeing the whole picture. That is our marketing tip.
Hey, welcome back to the show. I am joined by Dr. Cokethea Hill. She is founder and CEO of BLAQUE KC. Welcome to the show.
Dr. Cokethea Hill:
Thank you. Thank you for having me.
Jeff Randolph:
First, some definition. BLAQUE KC, that’s an acronym. Black Leaders Advancing Quality Urban Education, “a grassroots movement of parents and teachers and young leaders and advocates unapologetically focused on improving educational outcomes for Black students in Kansas City and beyond.”
So, man, that’s everything you would ever hope it would be. That’s great. For those who don’t know, introduce us to BLAQUE KC and your mission.
Dr. Cokethea Hill:
Awesome, thank you. So, prior to starting BLAQUE, I’ve had the privilege of serving Kansas City in a number of ways. I was on the Kansas City Public School Board. I’ve served on the city council. I’ve worked for the Kauffman Scholars, and so I’ve been in and around education for about 20 years. And my last stop before starting BLAQUE KC was working for a collective fund that made investments directly in schools to improve the outcomes. And what I noticed is that even though there were a lot of investment and a lot of energy, it wasn’t coordinated and we were not seeing the outcomes of Black kids significantly improve.
And so BLAQUE was a way to be unapologetic, to disaggregate data by race, and to foster conversations and collaborations so we can tease out, what’s happening in our schools to which Black students are getting the short end of the stick in terms of academic outcomes. So, BLAQUE was formed. We’re a 501(c)(4). Many people might not know that. We’re a nonprofit, but that (c)(4) designation allows us to engage in the political process by endorsing candidates and supporting them for elected services on boards.
Jeff Randolph:
Yeah. Well, let’s talk even more about the elected services on boards. Because we were just joined… Before we hit record, Michele Markham was here. Michele, of course, is the CEO/owner of EAG Advertising and Marketing where we sit at this very moment. And she is also involved heavily in Academie Lafayette, where she just drafted some board members. You created a concept to improve outcomes by drafting people to serve in board positions. Give us a little backstory of that draft and how that came about and what you’re doing.
Dr. Cokethea Hill:
Sure. Well, in our public school system, we have our traditional public schools, and those school board members have to be elected by the people that represent that school district. But charter schools, which are tuition-free public schools, their boards are appointed. So, the members of the board get to vote for candidates to join their board. And I think in around 2019, there was an article by KCUR that says, “Hey, even though our classrooms are becoming more diverse, our school boards are largely white.”
And we understand that representation does matter when you’re making decisions about schools, about kids, about families. And so in, I think 2023, there was this talk about Kansas City getting the NFL draft. So, I had this idea. I said, “Oh man, before the draft, there’s so much excitement in Kansas City about the NFL draft. Let’s do a charter school board draft.” And it’s similar just to the NFL Draft. We recruit schools. They serve as teams, and then we open up an application and we ask folks that are interested in joining a school board to apply.
There’s an interview process. And then once we create the pool of candidates, the next four months is really about them learning the educational landscape, meeting all of the charter schools who have signed up for the draft. We do a school board speed dating round. They have a chance to tour the schools. They learn about the charter school landscape, academic achievement. And really we spend two or three days doing a deep dive in school board governance.
We know that it’s not just about getting on the school board, but do you know how to govern a board correctly? And so that four months culminates with draft night, which is hosted at Arrowhead. It’s a high fashion event. It’s a plated dinner, but it’s a lot of fun. And so up until that moment, the BLAQUE team doesn’t know who schools will pick. The candidates are not sure what schools will pick them. About two or three days before the draft, the schools go into a lottery. So, that helps them determine the order of their picks.
And we do that close to the draft so that they actually meet every candidate. If you had the number one draft pick, you would say, “I’m going to find my candidate, and I may not be engaging with all the others.” So, we wait until the end. But it’s really a lot of fun. Schools love it. In 2022, we placed 15 candidates on 12 charter school boards. 100% of those candidates were still serving in 2024. And then we just placed 18 candidates on charter schools and one candidate on a nonprofit board. Because nonprofits are like, “Hey, can you do a nonprofit board draft?” So, we were really excited about the support we’ve been given.
Jeff Randolph:
Well, and you’re not just finding people just at a restaurant. You’re finding people who are amazingly qualified and just needed to be pointed in the right direction to serve and to give back. Talk a little bit about some of the kind of candidates that you’re bringing in.
Dr. Cokethea Hill:
Yes, high caliber candidates. So, we interview our schools and we ask them, “What profile of a board member, what gaps do you have on your board?” Most will say real estate, finance. Everyone needs a lawyer, right?
Jeff Randolph:
Sure.
Dr. Cokethea Hill:
So, lawyers are always top billing. Some folks might say, “Really, I want an entrepreneur. I want someone in DEI. I want someone who understands social-emotional learning.” So, we take those profiles. We actively go through our networks. We post it publicly. But in 2015, we had two municipal judges. One judge is now a federal appointed judge, Ardie Bland, who’s serving on a charter school.
We had Melesa Johnson, who at the time was the deputy council for the mayor’s office. She still works in the mayor’s office. We’ve had Terrell Jolly, who is an entrepreneur who works in incremental redevelopment. So, going into neighborhoods, turning homes that have been abandoned around for families. Just high level folks.
Jeff Randolph:
Yeah. Terrell Jolly, you can go back and listen to his interview on our podcast. You bring in good people For all of this. This is amazing. And it isn’t just the high caliber of people where you’re bringing people in. You’re also training them to be a good board member, to provide good governance. The whole package is everything you’re doing. Man, this is an exciting event.
Dr. Cokethea Hill:
It is.
Jeff Randolph:
Let me ask also, because there are many things that BLAQUE KC does. Your six-week Summer Freedom School, tell us about that. It’s an innovative program that’s changing lives one child at a time to address literacy.
Dr. Cokethea Hill:
Yes. Literacy is such a huge challenge, not only in Kansas City but just around the country. When we first started BLAQUE, what we did is we said, “Let’s do a data exercise.” We pulled school district’s annual performance report card. That’s the annual assessment that every school district takes. We looked at the state of Missouri, Independence, Lee Summit, Hickman, Center, charter schools, KCPS, and we disaggregated their data by race. And what we found is that for African-American students, they’re getting the lowest possible outcomes.
Just across the state, when we look at the state data, we know that when we look at eighth graders, only 28% of all eighth graders are on grade level. When we think about math, that’s 25%. Only three in 10 Missouri students are on grade level with reading. So, we said, “Hey, what can we do?” We know that school districts and schools are often challenged during those summer months. There’s not a lot of funding around out-of-school time during the summer. But we also learned in the research that when kids are not in an enrichment program, they often have what they call summer loss, right?
Jeff Randolph:
Mm-hmm.
Dr. Cokethea Hill:
So, all of that good investment that teachers are pouring in around literacy, if you’re not engaged during the summer actively reading, you sometimes lose that skill. And so Freedom Schools, Kansas City had a rich history. Kauffman Foundation funded Freedom Schools for about 10 years. There were 20 different sites. And it went away. And so we said, “Hey, let’s bring it back.” Freedom Schools is an evidence-based national model from Children’s Defense Fund based out of D.C. We brought that model here. We had 50 kids last year. This year we’ll have 150 kids across two sites. And so we’re just doing our part to make sure that we are helping schools and communities really push for literacy so our kids can have better outcomes.
One last thing I’ll say about Freedom Schools is the unique model brings college students from all around the country. But particularly for us, we recruit kids that are from Kansas City with ties in Kansas City that are in college coming home. They serve as teachers. So, you have that near peer where elementary kids, first through fifth grade are able to look at a college student that looks like them and say, “Oh man, I want to go to college. I know someone who’s gone to college.” And just that affirmation, it’s just a really great program. We invite you to come over this summer and check us out.
Jeff Randolph:
Oh yeah, everyone should do that. And participate. If you ever get a phone call from Cokethea-
Dr. Cokethea Hill:
Please.
Jeff Randolph:
… please take that phone call. Answer that phone call. You’re helping everything. What’s next for BLAQUE KC? What do you have in the pipeline that you can talk about? We don’t want anything before it’s time. But what happens next?
Dr. Cokethea Hill:
So, we spent our first three years really working to build a culture of advocacy, working with parents to understand pathways to access quality schools. I know you had Leslie Kohlmeyer on here.
Jeff Randolph:
Yes, we did.
Dr. Cokethea Hill:
So, Show Me KC Schools is one of our partners that helps families navigate. But really building their advocacy muscle so that they can talk about what are the needs that their kids have and how to effectuate change. And so that was great. We place people on school boards. We’ve been doing school board governance. But really we want to impact the in-school factors.
So, over these next two years, BLAQUE will be using our dollars, our resources, to invest in schools that want to improve school quality. We’ll be helping new schools that want to start in Kansas City. A lot of people will talk about these niche models of schools that we don’t have here, but we have around the country. And so we’ll be investing in creating cohesion in our K through 12 systems so that we can improve quality outcomes for every student. So, we’re excited about that.
Jeff Randolph:
As well you should be. Leslie Kohlmeyer, by the way, may have… First, she described you as a force.
Dr. Cokethea Hill:
Thank you, Leslie.
Jeff Randolph:
So, let’s just… And tremendously accurate. But she also may have given us a question for the lightning round.
Dr. Cokethea Hill:
All right.
Jeff Randolph:
So, if you’re ready, I’m going to put you in the lightning round. Are you ready?
Dr. Cokethea Hill:
Take a sip of water.
Jeff Randolph:
Yeah, just be ready. Prepare yourself mentally. You have no way to know what might be asked in the lightning round. You are exploring some innovative ways to support the reimagination of education through the metaverse. What do we know about education in the metaverse right now and where that’s going?
Dr. Cokethea Hill:
So, listen, I have a 10-year-old and I have to pry his device off of him, the Oculus. Kids are just in a different imaginative space than we were in. And so we said, “Well, hey, we’re going to go into the metaverse and we created a library.” It’s a literacy metaverse. Kids can put on their Oculus, be with their friends, walk through, pick a book, have a book read to them, or they can play competitive games all focused around literacy. So, we are super excited to dive into the metaverse. And when you go to our website, we’ll create a link to allow more folks to get in. But for this summer, it is just for our kids in Freedom School.
Jeff Randolph:
Oh man, that’s an exciting place to be exploring even. That’s good.
Dr. Cokethea Hill:
We think we can Zoom teachers in to actually have class in the metaverse. So, we are going to try that in After School Academy. Because teachers want to spend time at home with their families. They don’t necessarily want to work on a Saturday. But for 90 minutes getting into Zoom, getting on a headset, being in the metaverse teaching. So, we’ll see how that plays out.
Jeff Randolph:
Oh, man. Well, best of luck.
Dr. Cokethea Hill:
Thanks.
Jeff Randolph:
If it’s anything like all of the other things you’ve had your hands on, it’s going to be an amazing success.
Dr. Cokethea Hill:
Thank you.
Jeff Randolph:
What’s the best business advice that you’ve gotten? Because you started out and you’ve had to cobble a lot of things together. When you look back on business advice you’ve gotten as an entrepreneur, what would you say is some real solid advice?
Dr. Cokethea Hill:
I would say two things that have been super helpful to me is always knowing my why. Why am I in this space? Why is this work important to me? What is it that I want to achieve? And how will this space be different because me or my business or my network of colleagues got invested in it? That’s one.
And the second thing is, always do temperature checks. We do temperature checks with communities, with schools, with families to help us co-create what are the best innovations and things that we should bring back to our community. So, those are two things that have helped me through success and challenges, remembering my why.
Jeff Randolph:
Oh, that’s solid advice. That is great advice to have no matter what. What part of the business do you wish you knew more about or you wish you could make more progress in?
Dr. Cokethea Hill:
The part of the business that I wish I knew more about is, there are a lot of resources for entrepreneurs, but when you’re in the nonprofit space and you’re starting your own organization, you’re in this mix where you’re not truly a nonprofit that’s established. You are starting an organization much like an entrepreneur. And I wish I would’ve known about benefits packages or how do I create the retirement plan? We’ve learned that.
We got really great consultants, but those are just some things that you never imagined that one day when you start something that only you have this burning desire in your heart that later, two, three years later, you have five people or 10 people. And so you have to take care of people. As much as we take care of our kids in our community, our staff at BLAQUE is important to me and I want to make sure that they are better and they leave financially better, in a better position when they came to BLAQUE. So, I wish I would’ve known more about that.
Jeff Randolph:
You start this journey as an entrepreneur because you have a lot of passion and you want to make some change happen, and you’re like, “I’m going to take that on and I can take that on.” And you don’t realize at the time, that also means you have to have a working knowledge of human resources and marketing and accounting and everything else that goes into it. Yeah.
Dr. Cokethea Hill:
And marketing is so key. I’m still learning. I’m still trying to figure out. We have a great director of comms that does TikTok and LinkedIn and all those things, but so much of the good work that you do, no one knows unless you market it.
Jeff Randolph:
Unless you tell somebody. Yeah.
Dr. Cokethea Hill:
Unless you tell somebody. So, that is super important.
Jeff Randolph:
Well, it seems like more people are hearing about it, so I’d say there’s some good work happening there.
Dr. Cokethea Hill:
Thank you.
Jeff Randolph:
Here’s the next question. If you were a Golden Girl-
Dr. Cokethea Hill:
Oh, I love the Golden Girls.
Jeff Randolph:
… which Golden Girl would you be and why?
Dr. Cokethea Hill:
Do not judge me, but I would be Blanche. I love Blanche. I think Blanche is self-confident. Blanche goes for what she wants. She’s unapologetic in who she is. I love the Golden Girls. And if I was not going to be Blanche, I would be Sophia.
Jeff Randolph:
Oh, yes.
Dr. Cokethea Hill:
Because Sophia tells really great jokes. She does slick digs. She’s wise. So, yes, I’m a Golden Girl fan. Somebody must’ve told you.
Jeff Randolph:
I’m not saying Leslie Kohlmeyer helped with this question at all, but that may be the best question ever. I like the idea of Sophia as well, because you can say whatever you want to somebody and you still have the charisma not to get punched.
Dr. Cokethea Hill:
That’s right.
Jeff Randolph:
That’s a win in my book. I’d like to ask how you celebrate a big win. When you get that report back about how many amazing people were at the school board draft, or you just finished that event or something like that, how do you celebrate a big win? How do you stop and mark that time?
Dr. Cokethea Hill:
I could get better. I’ll be completely honest with you. I am always thinking about the next thing that even my team tells me, “Hey, sometimes you have to sit back and say, ‘Yes, this is great.'” And I think for me, it’s usually I’m running a bath, sitting in a bubble bath, having a glass of wine. But I struggle with that. I really do.
Jeff Randolph:
Because it’s always on to the next thing and the next thing and the next thing.
Dr. Cokethea Hill:
Yeah. And when you’re so close to it, even say the draft, I’m thinking about the million little things that I’m like, “I should have done this,” that nobody else experiences. Everyone says it’s better. But I think it is really important to stop and celebrate, because it is fuel to keep you going in those tough seasons. But I’m always like, “Okay, we did this. Great. Check. List the next thing. Okay, great. Check. What’s the next thing?” So, I can work on it.
Jeff Randolph:
And especially as you have staff, it’s good to hear that your staff even says, “Hey, let’s celebrate for a second. Let’s pause.” And if your staff tells you that, listen.
Dr. Cokethea Hill:
I do. I do. Oftentimes what we’ve done is we take spring break. We have three weeks off between Christmas and New Years-
Jeff Randolph:
Oh, nice.
Dr. Cokethea Hill:
… and so I like to reward the team with time away from work. That’s probably the biggest thing. We enjoy lunch together. We do retreats. But for the most part I say, “Step away.” You’ve got to have work-life balance. Some people say that there’s no such thing. There’s just life. But this is not your life. It’s a part of your life. It certainly shouldn’t consume all of your life. So, take a break.
Jeff Randolph:
And if you can come back and be that much more energized and that much more recharged and ready to go for the next round, yeah, that’s a good way to go. You’ve made it through the lightning round. There’s nothing else I’m going to ask in this lightning round. So, tell people where they can find you. Where can they get more information? How do they get involved? How do they become the next board member that’s recruited? All of those things. Where do they go?
Dr. Cokethea Hill:
Well, the next draft will be in 2026, so you have some time to get ready. But follow us. All of our social media handles, LinkedIn, Instagram, Facebook is @BLAQUEKC. That’s at B-L-A-Q-U-E-K-C. You can definitely hit us up on our website at BLAQUEKC.com. And just stay tuned. We have so many exciting things in store, and so I hope that you follow us. I hope that you come to some of our events, and I hope that you send us notes of encouragement or criticism. We take both because we really want to be the best interest of the community.
Jeff Randolph:
Man, when Michele Markham walked in and said, “Oh, yeah, no, we got a new board member from that event,” and she’s thrilled about it. So, you’re doing some very good things-
Dr. Cokethea Hill:
Thank you.
Jeff Randolph:
… and some right things. Dr. Cokethea Hill, founder and CEO of BLAQUE KANSAS CITY, thanks for being with us on the podcast.
Dr. Cokethea Hill:
Thank you for having me.
Jeff Randolph:
And that is our show. Thanks to our guest, Dr. Cokethea Hill, and thank you for listening to the Small Business Miracles podcast. Remember to subscribe. Leave us a five star rating and review. Drop us a line on the website at eagadv.com if you have any questions. Until then, we’re going to be out here helping entrepreneurs with another small business miracle.